


The Perks of Accepting an Unwanted Necessity

by Eratoschild



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Ardyn is just an annoying department head, College AU, IgCor Week, M/M, Professor Leonis, University politics
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-04
Updated: 2019-06-13
Packaged: 2019-10-22 05:03:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17656427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eratoschild/pseuds/Eratoschild
Summary: In order to keep his university graduation plans on track, Ignis has to take a military history class. He's less than interested and considers dropping the class until the professor walks in on the first day and he's forced to reconsider. Sometimes things don't go the way you want them to. And sometimes when that happens, you might just get something even better.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Igcor week day 1, college AU prompt.
> 
> This is obviously going to be a multi-chapter work, though it will continue on its own and likely not be related to anything else that I post for the week (though it's possible that plans may change so I never say never.)
> 
> I've no doubt it will turn explicit at some point. Also, this first chapter is shorter than others will likely be as I was trying to get something posted in a timely manner and anything longer would have doubtlessly suffered in quality.

“This can’t be right,” Ignis muttered to himself. Hunched over his desk, his laptop was open to the course registration for the upcoming semester, the course catalog and course schedule sprawled on the desk in front of him.

 

It was two thirty eight in the morning, at least it was the last time he glanced at the clock and Ignis was determined to get the last of his degree requirements out of the way this semester in hopes of squeezing in another minor before graduation.

 

“It can’t be,” he lamented again to the air.

 

“Iggy,” a sleepy voice growled. “I’m trying to sleep. Tell me what the problem is or be quiet and go to bed.”

 

“Gladiolus,” he huffed, “According to all of the data I’ve put together and the schedules I’ve calculated time and time again, I am going to have to take a _military history_ class to fulfill an elective requirement. He spat the words out as if they had personally wronged him.

 

Finally, Gladio took the pillow off of his head. “Is that what this is about? You’re depriving me of my sleep because you have to take a class you don’t want?”

 

“It’s irrelevant to my studies,” Ignis protested.

 

“Yeah, well, remember when I had to take ballet last year?”

 

“You liked it.”

 

“Yeah after I started taking the class. Before that I resented the hell out of it.”

 

“I would gladly take ballet if that were an option. At least it has the benefit of being a good exercise. Alas, it’s not an option that in any way fulfills this particular requirement.”

 

“Well maybe you’ll end up liking it. Go to sleep,” Gladio told him, turning over and jamming the pillow back over his head.

 

“What, if I start sleeping with someone from the class?” he muttered back at his roommate but the question only fell on a thick pillow. He knew for a fact that one of the key factors in Gladio’s looking more favorably on his ballet class was having caught the attentions of the class’s graduate teaching assistant. 

 

Ignis grumbled quietly to himself, and, having concluded with absolute certainty that he did not, in fact, have any other choices for the upcoming semester, he finalized his registration, went to bed and tried not to think about it.

 

When his confirmed schedule from the university arrived, Ignis stared long and hard at his phone, then sighed in resignation. “Well, I suppose if it’s really that terrible, I can drop it and take something else during the summer term. It’ll throw my plans off but I suppose I’ll live.”

 

Gladio glanced at his screen. “Iggy, you got into Professor Leonis’s class?” 

 

Ignis checked the screen. Instructor: Leonis. The name rang a bell, but nothing significant came to mind. “It would seem so. Why?”

 

“He’s supposed to be one of the best professors in the whole history department. His classes are really hard to get into. People try for all four years and sometimes don’t get a class with him.”

 

“Ah, well at least that says something about the quality of the instructor.”

 

“Sure does. I’m jealous.”

 

“You’re a literature major!”

 

“I still appreciate a well-taught class. Hey where are you off to right now?” Gladio asked.

 

“I have a study appointment with Noctis, I’ll see you back in the room tonight.”

 

 

As the next semester started, Ignis looked ahead to his new classes, excited about each, except for one. He did a bit of research and it seemed that Gladio was not mistaken, Professor Leonis was indeed an impressive individual…his credentials were impeccable, his reviews glowing. He’d made tenure in almost record time after he began teaching.

 

Despite this, and despite the prestige of making it so effortlessly into a class taught by such a highly-sought out professor, Ignis was no more enthused when he walked in on the first day.

There was no professor at the lectern. Fine. Ignis decided, he was early, he shouldn’t judge the professor based on that, difficult as it may be to resist. While he waited, he pulled out his notes from his previous class to get a jump on reviewing them while other students trickled in noisily.

 

Finally, at precisely two minutes to the hour, all chatter in the room abruptly ceased as the door opened and a stern, imposingfigure entered the room. Ignis had found Professor Leonis’s Faculty photo online but it was, as such photos often are, rather blurry and did not prepare him for the man in person. Ignis was taking a drink from his Ebony and nearly choked at the tanned, chiseled face that met him, a slight squint to his blue eyes, hard but with a faint warmth behind them. The professor was dressed in a suit that hinted at Lucian military attire: an open black jacket and trousers over a black and grey vest with a traditional skull printing, all at once expertly tailored and with an oddly casual air. Black boots stopping a few inches below his knee and a soft-sided black leather briefcase over his shoulder completed the look. 

 

Reaching the lectern, the professor quickly glanced around the room and spoke without preamble, “I apologize for my tardiness today. Do not expect it to become a repeated event. Now, anyone who has not yet purchased the class texts and syllabus, be certain to do so before next class. Otherwise, don’t bother coming to next class. Clear?”

 

A roomful of heads bobbed in assent, some students seemed to find this abrupt and shocking. Ignis was, to say the least, intrigued. Ever responsible, he had of course purchased the texts. New, sealed plastic-wrapped copies, no less. But now he had questions. So many questions. _Who apologizes for being late when they’re still technically early? And his strictness about the text books? And Six…why have I not seen this man around campus before?_


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Cor is annoyed. Mostly by Ardyn. Mostly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well here we are with the accidental multichapter work. I didn’t intend this when I started it, it was supposed to be a one shot so please be kind while I sort out exactly where it’s going. 
> 
> (Ok let’s not lie ourselves, it’s fanfic, we know exactly where it’s going so please be kind while I sort out exactly how it’s going to get there! I’m gonna try to make it somewhat of a story and not instant porn. Time will tell if I succeed. In the meantime feel free to check out my other works if you can’t wait for the porny bits!)
> 
> Also I’ve never written Ardyn before so there’s that.

If Cor Leonis were any less disciplined a man, he would have stomped down the hall. As it was, he settled for purposely striding, glowering at the air in front of him as he wove his way through the knots and gaggles of students socializing, looking for their classrooms and just generally making obstacles of themselves. Some students did make an effort to move out of his path, several of those greeted him as he passed, which he returned with a terse nod of acknowledgement. 

Arriving at his classroom (not his classroom, mind you, but the one to which he was assigned for this class) he took a long breath and let it out in a sharp huff, trying to shake off his annoyance, having been delayed by Dr. Izunia, the department head, for nothing more than typical university politics that damn well could have waited another hour. 

He opened the door and quickly crossed the room. Pulling his class roster from his briefcase and setting it on the lectern, he quickly glanced over the small crowd of faces and noticed that there were three students standing at the back wall with no desks or chairs. Izunia was definitely getting a piece of his mind for this.

The second thing he noticed was an unfamiliar student sitting at the front row, directly facing the lectern. As Cor started to speak, he closed the book he had opened and slid it quietly into his bag, all without breaking eye contact. The student was attractive – very attractive- and what’s more he was scowling at Cor as if his very act of entering the room had personally wronged him. There was something familiar about him though Cor couldn’t immediately place him. Definitely not a history major, he would have remembered seeing that face around the department with his luminous pale green eyes, cheekbones that could surely cut glass and a mess of hair that screamed “morning after”. Cor couldn’t help but picture....no, he stopped himself. This was not the time to be thinking things like that about one of his students. 

He invoked the same self discipline that propelled him decorously down the hallway only minutes ago and pushed the thought away before it became a problem and began his class, still silently cursing the reassignment of his customary classroom over petty bullshit, and the fact that, his own annoyance aside, it was the students who would suffer.

Once he’d gotten his brief introduction out of the way, he looked to the three in the back. “Whatever you all need to do to be somewhat comfortable today, have at it. I apologize this isn’t my usual classroom but I’ll try to figure something out by next meeting.”

Unfortunately, Cor suspected, the only way the situation was likely to improve was if anyone dropped the class which was rather improbable. He had no want to lose students, and was aware of the lengths some would go to enroll in his classes – he was a tough instructor but unlike many, he made a point to teach all his own classes, instead of using teaching assistants, to grade all work himself, to be available to help his students to push them and help them to learn as best as he could. He was as dedicated to working with non-majors as he was the students of his own department. This mean that he generally taught smaller seminar classes, and large lectures only rarely.

“Before we go any further, I’m going to take roll. I know a lot of you, and a lot of my fellow professors think it’s an archaic practice but I like to know who my students are and know that you’re here.” He looked to the top of his roster and started calling the names out, looking each student in the eye and nodding in acknowledgement as they responded.

When he finally came to the name Scientia, Ignis, the student in the front row did not say a word but silently raised one hand. So far he had never shifted his gaze, maintaining hard, unbroken eye contact as if it were a personal challenge

Scientia. He knew this kid was familiar for some reason. He was the personal tutor to the university president’s son. From a few rumors that Cor had heard, that meant in every way. Great, so on top of everything else was he going to be dealing with the know-it-all who was banging Caelum’s kid? No offense to the kid himself. Nicknamed The Prince by many in the university as a play on being his father, Regis’s son, Noctis was nice enough, and a decent enough student. He’d been in one of Cor’s classes last term, and certainly could have been far worse if the stories he’d heard from colleagues at other universities having the misfortune of having taught the progeny of high ranking officials from their own institutions.

He kept his stone face –or hoped he did – and gave Scientia the same nod as every other student and moved on. When he dismissed class, a few students hung back with questions but he couldn’t help notice that Scientia was up like a shot and out the door. Maybe there would be a drop this term after all.

Later that evening, Cor sat fuming in his office. He’d tried again to do something about his classroom situation, only to find the professor currently holding his customary classroom already ahead of him. Drautos was angling for tenure and Cor was pretty sure that if he got any further up Izunia’s ass, the department head would be choking.  
He tried to push that irritation from his mind only to have it replaced by a certain green-eyed scowl. Dropping his head into his hands, Cor muttered a string of profanity under his breath. Ifrit’s ass, could he not just get two minutes peace inside his own head? What the hell was this? Cor wasn’t usually one to be bothered- or even really notice- such a thing. If a student was unhappy about being in his class before he even had a chance to start teaching, it wasn’t his problem. 

Maybe he was just having a bad day, maybe he’d drop. Maybe he just had a really solid resting bitch face. Snorting softly at the last thought, Cor resolved to put it out of his head and went back to worrying about proper seating for his students. 

As if summoned by the very thought, Izunia appeared in his doorway barely a minute later. 

“I’m about to leave Ardyn, I hope this is about my classroom.”

“My esteemed colleague,” Izunia replied, glib as always, a hand going to his chest, “why else would I be here? I’m sure you’ll be most pleased to know that Professor Drautos has so generously offered to give you your classroom back.”

“Oh has he now?”

“Yours for the taking, effective tomorrow. And now,” he added with a dramatic nod of his head, almost a bow from the shoulders, “I will bid you a marvelous evening, I must be returning home myself.”

Before Cor could respond, Izunia was gone. _This can’t be good _. Rolling his eyes, he heaved a sigh and gathered what papers and books he needed to take home for the night.__

__At least it gave him a different cause to be annoyed._ _


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, it's been a while. Sorry about that! Had a little bit of a block with this one but it's finally past and we're on with the story now!

Ignis subtly glanced at his watch as Professor Leonis was wrapping up class. He had fifteen minutes to get clear across campus and meet Noctis.

Already having noted the assigned reading for next class, he hurried out of the room, hoping to be faster than a majority of the rest of the building’s departing population. 

As he hurried to Noctis’s dorm, he considered how the class had gone. It was a typical first day of class, but at the same time not quite. Professor Leonis seemed to take even the first day very seriously whereas many of his other professors phoned it in until at least the second meeting.

Besides that, the professor was devastatingly good-looking. His manner of dress, his build – the cursory research he’d done had led to Ignis learning that Leonis was an expert with the katana. 

And that piercing stare…the image in his mind was enough to make him shudder pleasantly.

_Keep hold of yourself, none of this will count for anything if the class isn’t good_ he silently admonished himself. 

Arriving at Noctis’s dorm, he buzzed the outside intercom. Not a resident of this building, Ignis couldn’t let himself in. “Be right down!” Noctis called through the tinny speaker.

A few minutes later, he was sitting at the kitchenette table with Noctis in the apartment-style dorm he shared with his best friend Prompto and his girlfriend.

Prompto and Cindy were _not_ making studying easy. It wasn’t that they were disruptive- they themselves were also studying, Prompto quizzing Cindy from an engineering text. Unfortunately, this made it impossible to keep Noctis focused on Modern Tenebraen Microeconomics.

“Perhaps we should go elsewhere elsewhere?” he suggested quietly, also not wanting to disturb the others.

“Oh hey! I’m sorry,” Cindy apologized. “We’re about done here and gonna take off, don’t you worry.”

“Yeah, I’ve got an assignment for my large-format photography class, gotta head to the lab,” Prompto added.

“Ah, well, if you need to leave anyway, I suppose we can wait a few more minutes.”

At that moment, Noctis’s phone buzzed. “Hey it’s an email from Luna!”

“Noctis, we have to study.”

“They haven’t left yet. And I haven’t heard from Luna since she went back to Tenebrae!”

“That was just yesterday.” 

“Yeah and I haven’t heard from her since then. It’s not a long email. I can probably read it a dozen times before they leave.”

“Fine,” he relented, cracking open an Ebony from the fridge, and letting his mind wonder while they waited. He couldn’t help but wince to himself at the thought of how quickly he had bolted from class. Ignis may not want to take the class but neither did he with to present a poor impression to any of his professors. 

While Noctis read his assignments, Ignis reviewed the first few pages of his own course syllabus, paying attention to the list of major assignments for the semester. If he came up with topics for papers early on, he could get a head start.

Cindy and Prompto kept, mercifully, to their word so Ignis was eventually able to get a productive study session with Noctis. The lack of distraction was helpful to Ignis as well. It meant that he wasn’t letting his mind wander to irrelevant subjects.

When they were finished, though, was another matter. Noctis was having diner with his father that night so there was no cause for Ignis to linger.

Dusk had settled when he left. Starting across campus, Ignis returned through the orange lights in their lantern-style lamps that marked the walking paths across the grounds.

As he walked along the path, Ignis turned his mind again to the projects he would need to complete this semester. Each one he would meticulously plan to relate as closely as possible to his degree work. He did his best to relate even the classes unrelated to his degree so as to further sharpen his expertise, and build the best possible portfolio of work for when he would be applying to graduate school next year.

He must have been more lost in thought than he realized, as he crossed an intersection in paths, a gruff voice bit out “Watch where you’re going, kid.”

When Ignis turned to respond, the voice faintly familiar, he was briefly speechless to see that it was Professor Leonis with whom he had narrowly avoided collision.

“I beg your pardon, professor,” he almost stammered, embarrassed at his lack of spatial awareness. “Please forgive me.”

“It’s fine,” the professor dismissed with a wave of his hand and a roll of his eyes. “Just be careful, okay?”

“Yes sir, certainly,” Ignis replied, then spoke again. “Professor, while you’re here I was wondering if I might ask a question about one of the projects on the syllabus?”

“Afraid I have to get home but if we don’t cover it soon enough to your liking in class, my office hours are listed in the syllabus as well. Have a good night,” he added and turned to leave without further ado.

With no more opportunity to speak, Ignis continued to his dorm. 

The lights were off when he opened the door, but the room was obviously not vacant.

Turning on the light, he was greeted by the sight of a back and shoulders covered in a t-shirt that might have been painted on, and an ass and legs covered in equally conforming jeans. 

“Iggy…” Gladio whined, turning to look at him. “You have the worse timing. I’ve got the worst boner.”

“Perhaps if I knew you would be entertaining a visitor…” Ignis shot back.

“What, you want me to leave a scrunchie on the doorknob?”

“A simple text message would suffice.”

The man atop Gladio turned to him with a roguish grin. “Hey gorgeous! You could always join us.” 

“How kind of you to invite me, Nyx,” Ignis replied dryly. Nyx Ulric, the reason for Gladio’s having warmed up to his ballet classes so quickly. An incorrigible flirt, but harmless, Ignis had quickly assessed him. He and Gladio were a monogamous couple but each seemed to get a kick out of the other flirting with others whenever they got a chance. Nyx especially liked to flirt with Ignis and occasionally, idle speculation led him to wonder what might have happened had he been the one in that class. In the end, though, he was perfectly content to allow it to remain a point of amusement and nothing more.

Gladio gave a frustrated grunt.

“Shall I give you some time?” Ignis asked.

“Nah,” Nyx replied. “Let’s go to my place.”

For all Gladio complained, they took their time leaving. Ignis took his books from his bag and opened to his necessary reading for the night. As ProfessorLeonis’s class would not meet the next day, he concerned himself with those classes that did.

Two days later, having received an email advising to do so, he entered a different room for Professor Leonis’s class, ten minutes before it was to start. He chose a seat in front and sat down. The professor entered barely a minute later.

Ignis listened attentively all through class. Unfortunately, the assignment was not covered. It came as no surprise, since it was not to be due till nearly the end of semester and this was only the second class meeting.

The project, however, potentially coincided with a project for another class which would be due much earlier. If he could make some of his classwork double-count, so much the better. He sent a text message to Noctis before class was over to let him know he would be late to study, unfortunately earning the notice of Professor Leonis who said nothing but favored him with an impressive scowl that sent a nervous shudder through Ignis. 

The professor had office hours immediately after class that day, so Ignis headed straight to his office, once again leaving the moment class was dismissed and perching on a chair in the hallway to wait when he saw the door still closed.

It may have been ten minutes later that Professor Leonis arrived, Ignis looked up when he heard footsteps.

“Scientia?” The professor commented in obvious surprise.

“Yes, sir,” Ignis replied.

“What are you doing here?”

"Your office hours, professor. I wish to discuss an assignment with you as I mentioned the other night.”

"Ah, yes. Sorry about that, you’d caught me at a bad time.”

“That’s quite all right, sir. It happens.”

The professor unlocked his office and stepped in, motioning Ignis inside. “I’m normally more punctual to my own office hours but I was stopped by a few students and I don’t usually get anyone stopping on the second day of class.”

“That’s perfectly understandable,” Ignis replied, glancing around as he entered. Every inch of two walls was obscured by shelves crammed with texts. A third was plastered in maps, charts and timelines of various sizes, types and colors. 

“If you don’t mind me saying, you’ve seemed in some rush to get out of my class the other day, and texting during class today? You’ll forgive me if I’m confused that you’re interested in future class assignments.”

“What? Oh, goodness,” Ignis muttered, face quickly warming. “I am the tutor to President Caelum’s son. I had an appointment with him the other day immediately after class. And today I was texting to postpone another appointment so that I may speak with you regarding my questions. I will try not to allow myself to be so disruptive in the future.”

“I see, well thank you for clarifying. And what assignment are you here to inquire about?”

Ignis pulled out his syllabus and flipped to the appropriate page. “This one,” he handed over the page. “The description of what is expected is germane to work I will be doing this semester in one of my degree classes, but there are a few subtle differences that I am interested in exploring and I was wondering if it might be permissible to stray somewhat from the exact guidelines?”

  
The professor studied the page for a minute. “I’m not even going to be discussing this assignment in class for another month and a half, why in the world are you asking about it now? Far be it from me to ever discourage a student’s proactivity in their academic work but this is kinda unusual.”

"I do understand that,” Ignis replied. “However the work in my degree class which I would like to relate this to will be starting earlier in the semester.”

“I see. And how exactly did you wish to stray from my guidelines to benefit this work? I don’t usually modify assignments for students to suit other coursework.”

“Well, to begin with, the assignment as you list it is rather short, with a maximum length of ten pages. What I am thinking of writing will likely be at least fifteen.”

“Longer assignment length? I don’t object to that. Keep in mind that ten pages is the minimum there is nothing prohibiting a longer paper. Aside from the assignment length, what specifics did you have in mind regarding the subject matter?”

“It’s mostly a matter of going into further detail about the economic implications of certain events of the era instead of a broader historical treatment.” Ignis further outlined his plans. When he finished, he realized that Cor’s eyebrows were rather sharply raised. 

“Is there an issue, Professor?”

“No Scientia. That’s quite impressive, actually. I’d like to see a written proposal on my desk by the end of next week.” 

"Ignis nodded in nervous excitement. “Yes, professor, certainly.”

“All right,” I will look forward to reading it then,” the professor replied, meeting his eyes intently and not looking away. For a minute, Ignis forgot to speak again.

“Thank you, sir,” he managed after a moment. 

“Is there anything else you wanted to discuss today?”

“No, that will be all,” Ignis said as he returned his papers to his bag and stood hurriedly to leave, almost upending the very chair on which he had just been sitting. 

“Careful there,” Professor Leonis cautioned. 

“Yes sir,” he answered, heading for the door before he could do any worse.

_Astrals_ he thought as he started down the hall. If there were going to be looks like that every time he stopped to see Professor Leonis – and Ignis did tend to make liberal use of professors’ office hours – there would be a whole other problem that he never anticipated this semester. 

As much as he chided Gladio for getting involved with a class instructor, Ignis had never expected to find himself finding one of his own instructors so attractive. Six, that stare was so piercing, Ignis was certain that the professor could surely see the very synapses firing in his brain. 

But he had approved Ignis’s desired changes to the assignment. That was the critical issue. Now he could begin planning his work, which would be a relief.

Making his way out of the building for the day, he tried his best to put that intense, icy stare from his mind but he couldn’t quite shake it.

 


End file.
